The instant Heuksalju’s eyes met those of the Extreme Evil Soma, goosebumps rose all over his body.
They said a villain recognized another villain, and the chill and terror were so great that he forgot even the pain in his shoulder, which had been agonizing enough to kill him.
“I asked if it was you.”
Heuksalju had even forgotten what the question was, and the Extreme Evil Soma did not wait for an answer.
Piiing! Puh-eok!
When the Extreme Evil Soma unleashed the Hyeorang Finger, his other shoulder was pierced through.
“Uaaaaaagh!”
Heuksalju let out a scream full of pain. No matter how much of a martial artist one was, the pain of living flesh being pierced was difficult to endure.
Watching the scene, I lightly jumped down from the top of the wall and walked over to the Extreme Evil Soma.
“Please don’t kill him. I have something to ask.”
I looked down at Heuksalju and asked.
“Who was it that offered you a position in the Sado Alliance?”
Of course, I already knew who he was. But I had to hear that name in front of the Extreme Evil Soma, so I asked.
Heuksalju clenched his molars tightly, as if he would never answer.
“Please move your foot.”
The Extreme Evil Soma was still trampling his shoulder with his foot.
When he moved his foot away, I saw the shoulder, riddled with a hole and crushed. Forget martial arts—he would not even be able to use chopsticks anymore.
I pressed the acupoints on both his shoulders to stop the bleeding and reduce the pain. I made sure he understood that I was not treating him out of goodwill.
“You can keep your mouth shut and just die here. But since you’ve inconvenienced us, you’ll die in agony. Tell me, and I’ll spare you.”
Heuksalju glared at me with eyes mixed with pain and distrust.
I did not hurry him. He had ended up like this because his opponents were me and the Extreme Evil Soma, but this man, too, had been through every hardship imaginable. He was not someone who would open his mouth easily.
I picked up the hidden weapon he had dropped while trying to launch it. It was his signature hidden weapon, the Wind Wheel.
Its owner might have been pathetic, but this Wind Wheel was an excellent hidden weapon.
I threw the Wind Wheel toward the wall.
Chwararararararak!
The Wind Wheel flew out, spinning rapidly, scraped along the wall, and then returned to my hand. A deep mark remained on the wall, as though some monstrous bird had raked it with its talons.
When I handled the Wind Wheel perfectly in one try, Heuksalju was shocked. The Wind Wheel was a dangerous hidden weapon that could sever the fingers of anyone who touched it carelessly without knowing how to use it.
Heuksalju asked in a trembling voice.
“Who are you?”
“Looks like you’re feeling well enough now. You even have the leisure to ask my name.”
“I asked who you are!”
Heuksalju shouted. He had already judged that he would not survive anyway.
“Geom Mugeuk.”
When he heard my name, Heuksalju was astonished. Since I had come with the Extreme Evil Soma, he had no choice but to believe my identity.
I showed the Wind Wheel to the Extreme Evil Soma and asked.
“May I have this?”
“I wouldn’t take that kind of hidden weapon even if it were given to me.”
“Thank you.”
I put the Wind Wheel away. I could use it against people not worth drawing my sword for, or give it as a gift if I met a subordinate who used hidden weapons. In any case, it was a weapon worth keeping.
I squatted beside Heuksalju again. I quietly looked down at him. His face was full of despair and emptiness. Until just moments ago, he had been dreaming of a brilliant future, only to fall into the abyss in an instant—how great must that sense of loss have been?
“As long as you’re alive, chances will come again. Who knows? Tomorrow, you might undergo rebirth and become an absolute master, or you might meet a peerless beauty and have your life changed. Just give me the name.”
How could he not want to live? Even if his shoulders were shattered, it was human nature to think there might still be some way to make a comeback.
“If I give the name, he’ll kill me.”
“If you give the name, we’ll kill him.”
“How can I trust that you’ll spare me?”
“Sorry to say this to you, but you have no value to me. What does it matter whether you live or die?”
If anything, that seemed to sound more persuasive. I could feel Heuksalju wavering. Then he gave a name.
“Naengyeop.”
Naengyeop, leader of the Gwisudan, the Sado Alliance’s elite unit. He was the most prominent expert in the Sado Alliance.
It was a lie. A lie born from Heuksalju’s desire for revenge, hoping we would die trying to kill Naengyeop.
“Fine. Lying is your freedom, and tearing off your arm is mine.”
I sprang to my feet, stepped on his shoulder, and began pulling his arm.
“Uaaaaaaaagh!”
I pulled with the genuine intent to rip it off.
Dudududuk.
No matter how ruthless Heuksalju’s heart was, he could not withstand the pain of his arm being torn off while still alive.
“Stop! Please stop! Uuuuugh! Seok Gwanchu! It’s Seok Gwanchu!”
This time, a proper answer came out. The one behind this affair was Seok Gwanchu, the Great Elder of the Sado Alliance.
“Is it really Seok Gwanchu?”
Heuksalju squeezed his eyes shut and said nothing.
Seok Gwanchu was a respected master of the previous generation in the Sado Alliance, and having spent so long in the council of elders, he was practically a forgotten existence. It was unimaginable that he would have entered a power struggle.
Heuksalju, too, would never have decided to fold up his organization and throw himself into the Sado Alliance if not for persuasion from someone of Seok Gwanchu’s stature.
“Keep your promise to spare me.”
“Of course…”
At that moment!
Puh-eok!
Heuksalju’s head burst apart as though a watermelon had been smashed against the ground.
The Extreme Evil Soma’s palm was aimed at him. He had unleashed the Mageuk Gwangpok Palm and killed him.
I finished the words I had been about to say to Heuksalju.
“Of course I can’t keep it. The person stepping on you is the Extreme Evil Soma.”
The Extreme Evil Soma did not say a word. The dead Heuksalju was not even in his thoughts.
When I searched Heuksalju’s clothes, a thick envelope came out. Inside were high-value notes, and when I counted them, they totaled one million nyang. Seeing that he had received the full amount in advance, it seemed the success or failure of the assassination had not mattered anyway.
I gave the money to the Extreme Evil Soma.
“This is money received for a commission to kill you, Lord Soma, so it belongs to you.”
Then the Extreme Evil Soma took only five hundred thousand nyang from it for himself and gave me the envelope containing the remaining five hundred thousand nyang.
“We nearly died together, so we should split it in half. Don’t refuse. Take it.”
“Then I will accept it gratefully.”
The Extreme Evil Soma was not a man excessively greedy for wealth. If he had been someone who possessed greed on top of everything else, he would be standing before me as an entirely different person.
The luggage Heuksalju had intended to take with him was full of treasures. Since he was in that line of work, it seemed he had not entrusted his money to a money house, but had exchanged it for precious treasures and kept them himself.
“If we sell these, they should fetch a decent sum. When Cheongmyeon comes later, let’s have him sell them.”
“You should take those, Second Young Master.”
“You should take these, Lord Soma.”
“I lost in lightness skill, so consider it the prize money.”
“It is far too large a prize. Treating me to a drink would be much cheaper.”
“One drink with me is more expensive than that.”
I smiled pleasantly. When he said he would give them to me, I did not force myself to refuse.
Long ago, Gowol had told me that money did not come with name tags. Its value was determined by how it was used in the moment.
The Extreme Evil Soma asked me.
“Do you believe for certain that Seok Gwanchu is behind this?”
“Isn’t that why you killed him without asking further?”
“No. I killed him because I simply couldn’t stand the sight of him.”
Thinking that he really had done just that, I let out a small laugh.
“From what I saw, he didn’t seem to be lying.”
“Seok Gwanchu, is it. That is truly a name I haven’t heard in a long time. He must be around ninety. I cannot understand why that old, decrepit man would covet the position of Sado Alliance Leader.”
“Seok Gwanchu has one grandson whom he dotes on. From what I’ve heard, that grandson is extremely ambitious.”
“Because of blood ties?”
“The affection an old master nearing death has for his bloodline is likely not something we can understand. In any case, if Seok Gwanchu is behind this, it will not be easy to deal with him.”
As if he agreed, the Extreme Evil Soma nodded. But the fact that the opponent was formidable only seemed to make him happier. I could read great joy in those small eye holes.
Half an hour later, Ian and Cheongmyeon arrived there.
“You must be tired from coming all this way, but let’s handle this first and then rest.”
I took Ian out to the marketplace.
There, after visiting several places, I sold all of Heuksalju’s treasures.
Even though I sold them below market price, they came to a staggering four hundred thousand nyang.
“If he had just lived well for the rest of his life with this money, that would have been enough. Why was he so greedy? Even this much money is more than enough to spend without using it all before dying.”
“Human greed has no end, does it?”
“Ian. Later, if it looks like I’m getting greedy, make sure you stop me. Say, ‘If you were going to be like this, why did you criticize Heuksalju back then?’ and laugh at me as hard as you can.”
“I might be too busy being greedy myself.”
“You?”
“I feel it while training in martial arts. That I’m a person with a truly great deal of greed. Every day, I’m tormented by the desire to quickly achieve mastery and fight powerful opponents.”
“That isn’t because of your greed. It’s because of the Bicheon Sword Art.”
“Because of the sword art?”
“Supreme martial arts like the Bicheon Sword Art tempt and stimulate the person practicing them. You know what happens if you’re devoured by that, don’t you?”
Ian nodded. She was so clever that she must have understood what I meant.
I took her to the Daeryuk Money House.
Of the total nine hundred thousand nyang we had gained this time, I deposited six hundred thousand under my name and gave Ian three hundred thousand nyang to deposit. Three hundred nyang was already a large sum, but when I gave her three hundred thousand nyang, she was horrified and startled.
“Young Master, I absolutely cannot accept this money!”
“I’m not giving it to you so you can buy liquor.”
“Then?”
“When you run the Gwiyeongdae later, there will be times when you have to spend money for your subordinates. Use it then.”
“It’s too much money.”
“You need to know how to handle large sums as well.”
“This is the first time in my life I’ve ever seen this much money.”
“Now, if someone wants to bribe you, they’ll need at least three hundred thousand nyang, won’t they?”
“No matter how little money I have, I won’t fall for that amount.”
“Then how much would it take?”
Ian seemed to ponder for a moment, then held up three fingers.
“Three million nyang?”
Ian shook her head.
“Oh, thirty million nyang?”
Still, Ian shook her head.
“…Thirty thousand nyang? Surely not three thousand nyang?”
Only then did she smile and say,
“Three hundred million nyang. Bring me that. If you want to buy me with money, all you need is three hundred million nyang.”
“Even if I gathered all the money in the world, it wouldn’t be that much.”
“That is what I am worth.”
We looked at each other and laughed softly. To be honest, I felt good. Because someone who could not be bought with money was staking everything for me.
“If there’s money left over, buy yourself something tasty too.”
“I’ll leave a lot left over.”
“You can leave all of it.”
On the way back, I casually asked Ian.
“What do you think of Cheongmyeon?”
“I think he’s a good person.”
“No, I mean, how would he be as your subordinate?”
“What?”
Ian was startled.
“My subordinate?”
“Cheongmyeon, leader of the First Squad of the Gwiyeongdae. He’s reliable, so I think he would suit it. The organization’s name means ghostly shadow, and he’s Cheongmyeon, who wears a blue mask. It fits, doesn’t it?”
I said it because I knew what Cheongmyeon’s loyalty was like.
“This isn’t a matter of whether it suits him or not. Cheongmyeon is someone aiming to become the next Demon Venerable. In reality, he’s also the strongest candidate.”
But he would never become the Demon Venerable in his life. Because the Extreme Evil Soma would survive for far too long.
Rather than spending his life taking care of that ill-tempered Extreme Evil Soma, wouldn’t a life that began as a squad leader of the Gwiyeongdae be much better?
He would become a squad leader, later become a unit commander, and who knew what else after that?
His current life was fixed toward a stifling conclusion, but a new life would have an open ending.
“If it feels too burdensome, you can ask him to serve as squad leader only in the early stages, until the Gwiyeongdae settles into place.”
“Would he do it?”
“There’s no reason he wouldn’t.”
“Come on. Still.”
“Ian. Do you think the position of a Gwiyeongdae squad leader is lower than that of the Demon Venerable’s successor?”
“…Of course it’s lower, isn’t it?”
“Ian!”
“Yes!”
“You, my direct subordinate and the commander of the Gwiyeongdae, stand in a position higher than the Demon Venerable’s successor. I am the one who will become the Heavenly Demon.”
Sensing that I was speaking sincerely, Ian lowered her head.
“I’m sorry. I absolutely didn’t say that because I was disregarding you, Young Master. It’s just that when I hear ‘Demon Venerable,’ it still feels too overwhelming.”
“I know. From now on, we’re changing the standard. Then taking Cheongmyeon as a squad leader won’t be such a burdensome matter.”
“Yes.”
“And right now, there’s a high chance Cheongmyeon will refuse. It isn’t something we can force. The Extreme Evil Soma won’t allow it easily either. We’ll have to work at it slowly.”
You still do not know how difficult it is to win a single person’s heart.
“He’ll be your subordinate, so you work hard to win him over.”
“Yes.”
And so we returned to Heuksalju’s hideout.
The Extreme Evil Soma, who had been waiting for me, asked about what came next.
“What do you intend to do now?”
“If we face Seok Gwanchu directly, a war may break out between our cult and the Sado Alliance. So I’m thinking of putting one person forward to fight.”
“And who is that?”
“Bi Sain.”
If it was Bi Sain, the successor of the Sado Alliance, he was the ideal person to put forward against Seok Gwanchu.
I gazed at the Extreme Evil Soma and said in a low voice.
“You and I, Lord Soma, will interfere in the decision of the Sado Alliance’s successor.”